


Breadsticks, Old Lace, and Normal

by Jude81



Series: Tumblr Prompts [7]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Date Night, F/F, Fluff, Humor, someone crashes the party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 16:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17227148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jude81/pseuds/Jude81
Summary: Tumblr Prompt: Deanoru getting their first real (as in no longer Runaways) date and it is crashed by a deinonychus





	Breadsticks, Old Lace, and Normal

Karolina played with her silverware as she sat at the small table for two waiting for Nico. Nico was late, and this date, this “real” date had been her idea. Nico had said that after three years of being on the run, and the last six months of relative peace, they deserved an actual date out on the town. She supposed Nico was right, but she’d enjoyed all of their previous dates: nights spent out under the stars sitting on an old blanket and drinking cheap wine, stolen afternoon at the small arcade in the “unpolished” part of town, picnics in their bed. All of those had been real dates and just as important to her, but this date was important to Nico.

She glanced down at her phone for the umpteenth time starting to worry a little. She waved the waiter away after he refilled her water glass. She sat back and looked around, smiling a little at the décor. It was very vintage Italian with an almost Lady and the Tramp feel to it. Two fat, dripping candles in old chianti bottles, red and white checkered tablecloths, old style silverware, thick water glass tumblers, and low lighting glowing across the pale salmon and white walls all added to the ambience. It was a nice place, small and out of the way straddling the border between the heart of the city and the gentrified neighborhoods.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

Karolina was pulled from her musings abruptly, not hearing Nico come up behind her. She glanced up and smiled, about to rise, but Nico gently pressed her back into her seat, kissing her on the cheek. Their waiter appeared as if out of thin air, and Nico handed him the package of yellow tulips tied up in brown paper. “Could you please get a vase for these?”

They are beautiful,” murmured Karolina as she touched the soft petals.

“I’m so sorry I’m late. My car battery died, and then I had to get a taxi and get to the florist to pick these up.”

Karolina nodded and smiled, “It’s ok, babe. You look beautiful tonight. Is that a new dress?”

Nico blushed and nodded, “I found it at that gently used store across town.” She shifted in her seat, pulling the dress down a little on her legs. “Every girl needs a little black dress.”

Karolina nodded and smiled, letting her gaze drift across Nico’s face. She had taken her hair out of its top knot, and the waves framed her delicate face. She’d traded her black lipstick for a dark maroon and added just a touch of eyeliner.

“You’re beautiful,” murmured Nico, pulling Karolina out of her daydream, “I don’t think I’ve seen that before?”

Karolina shrugged, the small blush crawling up her tanned cheeks. “Gert and Molly helped me make it. We found an old ‘50’s style blue dress, and we cut it up a bit and added some late at the waist.

“Well, it looks fabulous. You did a great job.”

Karolina nodded and picked up her menu, feeling slightly awkward. This going out alone, eating at an actual restaurant was unusual for them. It had only been the last few months that they had made basic peace with their parents, wrangling promises from them that they would leave the Runaways alone. And they had.

They’d all managed to stay together, turning the underground mansion into an actual home. Nico, Gert, and Chase had all enrolled in the local community college, picking up part-time jobs also. Karolina took online classes and worked full time to help support them all. Molly helped mostly with the upkeep of the mansion, the rest of the Runaways insisting that she finish high school before worrying about a job. And Alex, well Alex still seemed lost, not ready to forgive his parents or trust them. He spent too much time wandering the city, but he rebuilt computers to help support their family.

They placed their orders and waited for the food to arrive.

“It’s nice here. Where did you hear about it?”

“Gert told me. She said they have the best Alfredo Chicken and breadsticks. She knows someone in the kitchen who would give her day-old breadsticks.”

Karolina nodded and broke one of the breadsticks in half that the waiter had set at their table. She popped a piece in her mouth and moaned a little at the warm garlic and light buttery taste that flooded her mouth. “Oh my God, she wasn’t lying.”

Nico grinned and grabbed a breadstick from the basket. They quickly made short work of the breadsticks and ordered another basket.

“This is nice, right?”

Karolina nodded, quickly picking up on the slight tremor of uncertainty in Nico’s voice. Nico wasn’t especially good at talking about her feelings, or as she claimed, even having feelings. She reached across the table and wrapped her fingers around Nico’s and squeezed softly. “Yes, this is nice. It’s nice to get away from the mansion.”

Nico nodded, relief flooding her chest. “Yeah, it’s nice to do normal things, get away from everyone else.”

Karolina nodded slowly. Normal things.

Their food arrived, Chicken Alfredo for Nico and the vegetarian lasagna for Karolina. They had just started to eat when they heard a noise at the front of the restaurant, which quickly turned into screaming and the sound of tables being over-turned, feet pounding across the floor, silverware and dishes being flung around the room.

“Nico! What…?” Karolina was already out of her chair, grabbing for her purse and jacket, Nico having shoved back from the table and now facing the front of the room.

Nico cursed under her breath wishing she had her staff with her. “Karolina, quick out the back!” She pointed behind her, her arms waving in the air. “The exit is near the restrooms. Go!”

People suddenly converged upon the room, trying to get to the exit, almost sweeping Karolina up into the tide, as she tried to get around the table to grab Nico’s hand.

“No! You’re coming with me,” just as she managed to push her way between two men, she heard the tell-tale sound of chittering and an almost hoarse sounding cough. She grabbed Nico’s hand, wrapping her arms around her and holding her closely as they were jostled and pushed by screaming people.

“Karolina? Is that…” Nico had recognized the sound too. “Fuck. No way.” She pulled out of Karolina’s arms, grabbing her hand and plowing a path to the front of the restaurant. She picked her way around upended tables, and grimaced when she stepped in what appeared to be a huge bowl of spaghetti.

They rounded the corner to the front of the restaurant, bot the of them coming to a full-stop, Karolina bumping into Nico from behind. “Well, fuck.”

“Yup.”

There standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by broken dishes and upended tables was Old Lace, happily chittering away as she thrust her entire face into a basket of breadsticks.

“We need to get her out of here,” muttered Nico, glad that the rest of the people in the restaurant had managed to get out of the restaurant.

Karolina grabbed one of the table clothes and held it out in front of her, carefully walking up to Old Lace was rummaging through the food on the floor in search of more breadsticks. “Ok, come on, Old Lace. We need to get you out of here.”

She froze when Old Lace looked up at her, breadsticks in her talons, her long thick tail flicking slightly. “Come on, girl, you know Gert isn’t going to be happy you got out.” She bent down and picked up a breadstick holding it out to the Deinonychus. Most people would have assumed she was a raptor, but she wasn’t, although she was definitely a genetically engineered dinosaur with a telepathic connection to Gert.

Nico looked down at her phone as it pinged four times, apparently Gert had just realized that Old Lace was missing. She placed her hand on the small of Karolina’s back, “Gert knows she is missing, she is on her way, but won’t be here for twenty minutes.”

Karolina shook her head. “We can’t wait that long. The cops will be hear soon. Look get as many breadsticks as you can, that seems to be what she wants.”

Nico grimaced and nodded, picking her way through the trampled food, scooping up as many breadsticks as she could, before returning to Karolina. “I could only find six that aren’t completely smashed.”

Karolina nodded, “That will do. Look, you feed her, and I’m going to put this tablecloth around her.”

It took a bit of maneuvering and some scolding on Karolina’s part, but they had managed to the rig two linen tablecloths around Old Lace, hiding most of her dinosaur frame. Karolina took off her blue jacket and draped it across Old Lace’s shoulders.

“It looks like a dinosaur in a tablecloth and coat,” muttered Nico.

“Yeah, maybe in here, but hopefully out there in the dark, it will look like we are helping out a customer. Ok let’s do this.”

They picked their way through the strewn tables, Nico holding out a breadstick to get Old Lace to follow them, Karolina with her arm around Old Lace in an effort to “sell” their story.

They made it out the back and into the alley just as the police showed up, busting through the front doors. They ducked behind an old dumpster waiting for the rest of the guests to make their way out of the alley, before they snuck out too.

“Are you all right, Miss?”

They both froze, their arms around Old Lace as they turned their heads to see the elderly man and woman standing at the mouth of the alley.

“We were just in the restaurant, when some type of huge dog attacked,” said the old man as he stepped closer to them, his brows furrowed in concern.

His wife shook her head, the small hat on top of her gray curls tilting dangerously, about to fall to the ground, until she pushed it back in place with a small gloved hand. “I’m telling you, Walter, it wasn’t a dog. It was a dinosaur.”

The man laughed a little, his white moustache twitching. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze, “Come now, Mary, how could there be a dinosaur in the city?”

“I’m telling you what I saw. I’m not blind you know,” she snapped as she turned back to Nico and Karolina and smiled. “Are you two alright, dears? And who is this with you? Do you need any help?”

Nico opened her mouth, but nothing came out, and she turned to Karolina, praying she would think of something to say.

“We are fine,” Karolina stepped in front of Old Lace who was losing interest in what was happening and was starting to push against Nico in search of more breadsticks. “It is our grandmother’s birthday, and we brought her here to her favorite restaurant, but as you can see, she is a little shaken up, so we should be going,” Karolina said as brightly as she could, hoping the smile on her face dispelled any further suspicions.

Walter nodded and tugged gently on Mary’s hand, “See, they are all right. We should see if we can find a taxi.”

It was another minute before Mary conceded and walked off with her husband and both Nico and Karolina breathed sighs of relief.

“We really need to get the hell out of here.”

They slowly made their way down the block, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, Nico texting Gert where to meet them. And both breathed a huge sigh of relief when Gert showed up with their old pick-up truck.

**************************************

Karolina sat cross-legged on their bed waiting for Nico to get out of the shower. She felt bad about the way their date had turned out. She knew it was important to Nico that they had a “real” date. She smoothed out the tablecloths on the bedspread. It wasn’t checkered, but a basic red. It would do though. She’d managed to score a bottle of wine last week, and she’d opened it and set it on the night stand with two plastic cups. She’d found a baguette and some cheese and had arranged them with some red grapes on a small plate and set it on the tablecloth.

“God, I’m fucking wiped,” muttered Nico as she entered the room, head cocked as she used a towel to dry her hair. “What a night.”

She stopped half-way into the room, when she noticed the lit candles on the side tables, the bottle of wine and the small plate of food. She approached slowly, a small smile twitching at her lips, as she sat on the bed. “What’s all this.”

“I know our date didn’t work out like you wanted, and I’m sorry, and I know you must be hungry. It isn’t much, but…” Karolina waved her hands at the food, a small blush working its way up her neck and into her cheeks.

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” Nico scooted across the bed until she was sitting cross-legged across from Karolina, only a couple feet separating them. She leaned forward and kissed Karolina, sighing quietly at how right it felt. She would never understand why or how they fit together perfectly, but she was grateful.

“I know you wanted a “real” date.”

Nico shook her head, “Sometimes I just worry we don’t get to do normal things, and I just wanted us to do something that everyone else does,” she picked at the tablecloth, smiling a little at how Karolina had tried to recreate the atmosphere at the restaurant.

“Baby, we aren’t normal. You are a powerful witch, and I’m an alien.” Karolina chuckled and leaned forward kissing the tip of Nico’s nose. “I don’t need Italian restaurants with breadsticks. I just need you. It doesn’t matter what we do, only that we do it together.

Nico nodded, a soft smile blooming across her lips. “Ok,” she breathed as she rose up on her knees, planting her hands on either side of Karolina’s hips. She pressed her mouth to Karolina’s, memorizing the way Karolina’s lips moved under her own, the small meeping sound Karolina made when Nico grazed Karolina’s lips with her tongue, the way Karolina’s hands felt as they grabbed at her shoulders.

It was the only normal she needed.


End file.
